Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Green Meteorite Found In Morocco May Be From Mercury

Posted by samzenpus on from the hot-rock dept.

An anonymous reader writes in with news that a meteorite found in Morocco might be from Mercury. "The green rock found in Morocco last year may be the first known visitor from the solar system's innermost planet, according to meteorite scientist Anthony Irving, who unveiled the new findings this month at the 44th annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in The Woodlands, Texas. The study suggests that a space rock called NWA 7325 came from Mercury, and not an asteroid or Mars."

2 of 89 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Another dumb question.... by tverbeek · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Mercury's gravity is rather weak (1/20 Earth's mass), and it has no atmosphere to speak of. A rock getting enough kinetic energy to escape Mercury's gravity isn't that hard to imagine.

    The tricky part of this scenario is getting the rock enough kinetic energy to boost it from Mercury's orbit out to Earth. I'd guess a slingshot around the sun was probably needed.

    --
    http://alternatives.rzero.com/
  2. Re:Another dumb question.... by khallow · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'd guess a slingshot around the sun was probably needed.

    It's got to be something massive moving relative to the Sun, probably Mercury and/or Venus.